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Hfrican 


Country,  Climate,  Manners  and  Customs  of 
the  People— Their  Religious  Needs. 


~~is 

J8E  IRew  G.  3S.  5mitl3. 


Ipublisbeb  b^  tbc  foreign  /tofssien  36oarb, 
Southern  teapUsi  Converuioi., 
Ifttcbmono,  Pa. 

1900. 


3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  3  * 
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©tir  Hfilcan  filMssion. 


COUNTRY. 

The  work  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention 
in  Africa  is  in  the  Yoruba  country,  which  is  sit¬ 
uated  in  West  Africa,  within  the  lower  bend  of 
the  Niger  river,  and  between  3  degrees  and  5 
degrees  east  longitude,  and  lies  just  above  the 
sixth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and  is  about 
three-fourth  the  size  of  Arkansas.  Along  the 
coast  it  is  flat,  and  there  are  many  swamps, 
and  it  is  heavily  timbered,  but  gradually  rises 
until  on  the  northern  boundary  it  rises  to  about 
1,400  feet  above  sea  level,  with  hills  rising  sev¬ 
eral  hundred  feet  higher.  On  the  wdiole,  the 
country  is  high  and  dry,  and  in  the  interior  is 
prairie,  with  strips  of  timber  along  the  streams, 
and  scattering  stunted  growths  among  the 
grass.  The  grass  grows  from  six  to  twelve 
feet  high.  There  are  many  hills  rising  three 
hundred  to  five  hundred  feet  above  the  plain, 
but  scarcely  forming  ranges  for  more  than  a 
few  miles.  Except  near  the  towns  no  stock  is 
fed  on  the  grass,  and  no  use  is  made  of  it,  ex¬ 
cept  to  roof  houses.  It  is  burned  off  annually. 
Game  is  not  very  plentiful  now,  though  many 
kinds  are  to  be  found,  but  none  harmful  except 


3 


the  leopard,  and  I  never  hear  of  people’s  being 
attacked  by  it. 

CLIMATE. 

Being  near  the  equator,  the  climate  is  al¬ 
ways  warm,  and  the  sun  heat  is  most  danger- 
our  to  wdiite  men,  though  in  the  shade  it  is  not 
so  intolerably  hot  as  might  be  supposed.  The 
thermometer  ranges  from  70  to  95  degrees  in 
the  shade,  with  an  occasional  drop  to  60  de¬ 
grees  in  the  early  morning.  I  have  suffered 
more  from  the  extreme  heat  of  our  American 
summers  than  I  ever  have  here.  But  here 

4 

there  is  little  let  up.  It  is  very  unhealthy  for 
white  men,  and  there  is  little  or  no  abatement 
in  the  high  death  rate.  Part  of  this  is  due  no 
doubt  to  bad  habits  and  carelessness,  but  with 
the  best  of  care  and  habits  one  cannot  be  per¬ 
fectly  well,  and  many  cannot  live  here  at  all. 
It  is  not  safe  for  white  men  to  remain  here 
more  than  three  years  as  a  rule,  and  none  but 
missionaries  stay  more  than  a  year  or  eighteen 
months,  and  I  believe  none  but  our  own  mis¬ 
sionaries  stay  as  long  as  three  years  now.  I 
do  not  include  the  Catholics,  who,  I  believe, 
make  long  stays.  The  seasons  are  the  rainy, 
from  April  to  November,  and  the  dry,  the  rest 
of  the  year. 

PEOPLE. 

The  people  are  pure  negroes,  and  this  is  al¬ 
most  sufficient  to  say  to  southern  people.  In 
common  with  the  American  negro,  they  are  full 


4 


of  superstition,  and  have  the  same  good-natured 
indifference  to  the  realities  of  life.  But  in  his 
native  land  the  negro  seems  to  be  more  natural, 
because  he  does  not  imitate  the  white  man,  ex¬ 
cept  in  the  coast  towns.  The  houses  are  built, 
the  walls  of  dried  clay  and  the  roofs  of  sticks 
and  long  grass.  The  rooms  are  about  eight  or 
ten  feet  square,  and  seven  feet  high,  and  ail 
open  into  a  common  piazza,  which  in  turn 
opens  into  an  open  court.  Many  families  live 
in  one  house,  each  adult  having  his  own  room. 
All  the  domestic  animals  have  full  access  to 
the  piazza  and  court. 

For  the  most  jjart  the  people  live  in  towns 
and  villages,  and  not  on  their  farms.  Some  of 
these  towns  are  very  large.  Besides  farming, 
which  is  general,  nearly  all  the  trades  are  car¬ 
ried  on  in  a  crude  fashion.  There  is  also  a  great 
deal  of  buying  and  selling.  Work  animals  are 
not  used  at  all,  but  farming  is  done  with  a 
short-handle  hoe,  and  all  goods  and  produce  is 
carried  on  the  head.  Women  never  work  the 
farms,  but  they  help  to  gather  the  crop  and 
carry  it  home.  Horses  are  used  only  for  riding, 
and  then  not  for  travelling  on  a  journey  except 
by  the  “big  men”  and  chiefs. 

FAMILY  LIFE,  MARRIAGE  AND  FUNE¬ 
RALS. 

There  is  family  life,  but  no  privacy  as  with 
us.  The  marriage  relation  is  recognized  as 
sacred,  but  separations  are  very  frequent. 


5 


Usually  girls  are  engaged  when  they  are  chil¬ 
dren,  and  have  no  say  as  to  whom  they  shall 
marry.  The  man  or  his  family  pay  a  dowery 
to  the  family  of  the  girl,  ranging  from  about 
$15  to  $25.  The  marriage  ceremony  consists  in 
a  feast  of  several  days,  the  girl  being  taken  to 
her  husband’s  house  by  her  family  on  the  morn¬ 
ing  after  the  night  that  the  feast  begins.  The 
bride  stops  in  a  room  until  the  feast  is  over, 
and  is  not  supposed  to  see  any  one  except  her 
own  husband  and  her  women  friends.  In  most 
places  there  is  a  marriage  season  of  the  year, 
when  all,  who  are  going  to  that  year,  get  mar¬ 
ried.  During  the  whole  feast,  the  drummers 
are  busy  making  as  much  noise  as  possible. 
Wedding  processions,  singing  wedding  songs  as 
they  go,  are  common.  Polygamy  is  common. 
Relatives  never  marry. 

Funerals  are  so  much  like  weddings  as  to 
make  it  difficult  at  times  to  know  which  it  is. 
The  deceased  is  buried  almost  immediately  in 
a  grave  dug  in  the  piazza,  the  body  being  wrap¬ 
ped  in  cloths  and  mats.  The  rest  consists  in 
crowds  of  peoples  going  through  the  streets 
beating  drums,  singing  the  praises  of  the  de¬ 
ceased,  firing  guns,  swinging  black  horse  tails, 
dancing,  and  in  the  house  feasting  night  and 
day  for  several  days,  in  connection  with  which 
there  is  a  constant  beating  of  drums.  All  this 
is  supposed  to  be  done  to  honor  the  dead,  but  I 
fear  it  is  their  own  stomachs  they  are  honor- 


6 


ing,  or  rather  dishonoring.  Little  children 
dying  are  thrown  out  or  buried  in  any  conve¬ 
nient  place  outside  the  wall,  with  no  honors 
of  any  sort. 

PARENTS. 

In  a  conventional  way  parents  are  always 
honored  by  the  children,  and  elders  by  the 
younger,  and  in  outward  form,  both  of  act  and 
word,  great  respect  is  shown  them.  But  it  is 
painful  to  see  how  many  old  people  there  are 
who  have  to  work  till  they  drop  into  the  grave, 
and  suffer  for  the  necessaries  of  life  because 
their  children  neglect  them.  And  these  same 
children  will  spend  all  they  have  and  go  in 
debt  and  pawn  their  children,  and  even  them¬ 
selves,  to  honor  the  abused  parent,  when  dead, 
with  a  big  funeral.  The  parents  seem  very  af¬ 
fectionate  toward  their  children,  and  yet  they 
often  pawn  them  into  temporary  slavely,  and 
in  not  a  few  cases  this  becomes  permanent 
slavery. 

SLAVERY. 

Domestic  slavery  is  common,  and  a  very  large 
portion  of  the  population  are  slaves.  What  is 
known  as  the  slave  trade  is  much  less  preva¬ 
lent  than  formerly,  and  is  dying  out,  as  indeed 
is  all  slavery,  for  though  the  English  Govern¬ 
ment  does  not  interfere  with  domestic  slavery, 
except  in  Lagos  and  immediately  surrounding 
country,  yet  that  free  territory  makes  it  too 


7 


easy  for  slaves  to  escape  for  slavery  to  be  a 
paying  business.  The  slave  trade  is  forbidden 
in  the  whole  territory,  and  government  officers 
are  not  allowed  to  assist  in  the  restoration 
of  slaves. 

RELATIONSHIP. 

Relationships,  at  least  so  far  as  the  words 
used  indicate,  seem  to  me  very  indefinite;  in¬ 
deed,  on  account  of  polygamy  and  the  indefi¬ 
niteness  of  terms  used,  it  is  often  very  difficult 
to  find  out  what  a  person’s  relation  is.  Two 
terms  mostly  cover  the  whole  question— namely, 
elder  relative  and  younger  relative — and  no 
matter  how  near  or  distant  the  relation  is,  these 
terms  are  used.  To  make  it  more  definite  many 
words  must  be  used  to  show  just  what  the  re¬ 
lation  is.  Even  the  term  father  may  indicate 
no  more  than  an  uncle. 

MORALS. 

In  a  way  the  people  may  be  said  to  be  fairly 
moral,  at  least  their  morals  are  not  so  bad  as 
one  might  expect,  and  yet  adultery  is  fearfully 
common.  It  is  recognized  as  a  crime  in  the  law, 
and  is  punished  with  a  fine,  but  there  is  no 
thought  of  sin  or  shame  in  connection  with  it. 
Where  polygamy  is  common  illegitimate  chil¬ 
dren  are  not  known  as  such.  In  the  thought 
of  the  people,  and  in  the  sight  of  the  law,  adul¬ 
tery  is  possible  only  with  a  married  or  an  en¬ 
gaged  woman.  An  unengaged  girl  is  simply 


8 


spoken  of  as  the  wife  of  the  man  with  whom 
she  has  been  guilty. 

There  is  simply  no  such  thing  as  modesty 
either  in  word  or  act.  Clothing  is  very  scant, 
children  go  without  it,  and  all  actions  and  all 
language  of  every  kind  are  public. 

GOVERNMENT. 

The  government  is  in  the  hands  of  principal 
chiefs,  one  in  each  place,  with  an  advisory 
council,  and  in  large  places  there  are  chiefs 
over  the  various  parts  of  the  town.  There  is 
a  king  of  the  whole  Yoruba  country  (that  is, 
the  tribe  known  as  Yoruba),  located  in  the  city 
of  Awyaw,  but  he  has  little  power  outside  of 
his  own  town.  Each  town  is  governed  by  its 
own  chiefs,  and  the  smaller  towns  owe  alle¬ 
giance  to  the  larger  ones.  At  present  the 
English  Government  really  governs  the  country 
through  the  native  chiefs,  who  are  held  respon¬ 
sible  to  the  English  officers. 

There  are  well-established  laws  to  which  the 
chiefs  must  adhere  in  the  government  of  the 
people,  but  in  deciding  cases  between  man  and 
man  it  is  largely  a  matter  of  which  can  pay  the 
most  money.  There  are  a  number  of  tribes 
speaking  the  Yoruba  language,  and  I  include 
all  these  in  the  Yoruba  country,  although  they 
are  separate  governments,  sometimes  contain¬ 
ing  many  cities,  and  sometimes  only  one  with 
smaller  towns.  It  is  estimated  that  the  whole 
country  has  a  population  of  about  four  million. 


9 


but  no  one  knows.  When  a  chief  dies  there  is 
always  a  line  of  eligible  persons  from  whom  to 
choose,  and  the  matter  is  settled  by  the  Council 
of  Chiefs,  or  in  the  case  of  a  smaller  chief,  by 
the  principal  chief  with  the  approval  of  his 
council. 

RELIGION. 

The  religion  of  the  people  is  idolatry  and 
fetichism.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  find  out 
anything  about  their  religious  belief,  partly  be¬ 
cause  they  will  not  tell  a  stranger  anything, 
and  partly  because  there  is  so  little  that  ]s  defi¬ 
nite.  I  have  asked  about  a  little  idol  house, 
what  idol  it  was  for,  and  was  answered  that  it 
was  a  place  for  the  children  to  play,  and  only 
after  a  lot  of  talking  could  I  get  the  facts.  The 
priests  of  the  various  idols  are  supposed  to  have 
valuable  secrets,  and  to  be  able  to  communi¬ 
cate  with  the  spirit  of  the  idol  on  behalf  or 
against  any  given  person.  It  is  not  supposed 
that  the  image  is  the  real  idol,  but  that  the  spirit 
of  the  god  is  in  it.  Thus  the  twin  god,  when 
one  of  a  pair  of  twins  dies  an  image  is  made 
and  worshipped,  the  worshippers  believing  that 
the  spirit  of  the  child  is  in  the  image,  and  can 
help  them.  The  religion  has  no  reference  to  a 
future  life,  but  only  to  this,  and  the  worship, 
consisting  of  sacrifices,  feasts,  bowings,  and  pay¬ 
ments  to  the  priests  and  to  owners  of  images, 
is  either  for  the  purpose  of  getting  good  from 
the  gods  or  preventing  them  from  doing  harm. 


10 


Thus  an  image  of  the  devil  is  worshipped  to  pre¬ 
vent  him  from  harming  the  worshiper.  The  peo¬ 
ple  believe  in  one  supreme  God,  whom  they  call 
Olorum,  which  means  the  owner  of  heaven. 
They  seem  to  believe  that  he  created  all  things, 
including  their  gods,  but  has  left  matters  in  the 
hands  of  the  idols.  They  believe  m  immor¬ 
tality,  and  in  a  future,  good  and  bad,  but  no 
one  thinks  he  is  going  to  the  bad.  They  are 
perfectly  indifferent  to  the  future  state,  seem¬ 
ing  to  think  it  will  be  all  right  with  them.  The 
spirits  of  the  dead  come  back  to  their  homes, 
sometimes  for  mischief,  and  so  have  to  be  ap¬ 
peased  in  the  worship  of  certain  idols.  They 
have  god.'  many,  but  images  are  not  vuy  plen¬ 
tiful,  and  many  have  no  image  at  all.  Persons 
may  be  seen  on  the  streets  with  an  image  of 
a  god,  often  the  devil,  to  receive  offerings  of 
money  from  the  people  passing  to  appease  said 
god. 

LANGUAGE. 

The  language  is  one  not  to  be  despised  at  all. 
It  is  a  musical,  pleasing  language,  and  is  very 
full  for  ordinary  purposes,  and  it  is  really  won¬ 
derful  how  few  difficulties  in  translation  there 
are.  Difficulties  there  are,  but  in  my  reading 
about  other  languages  I  should  say  much  less 
than  in  many  others,  even  Chinese  or  Japanese. 
It  is  a  language  of  inflections  of  the  voice,  by 
which  words  spelled  alike,  and  to  our  ear  pro¬ 
nounced  alike,  have  different  meanings.  Thus 


11 


one  can  say  husband,  boat,  or  hoe  with  the 
same  word;  fear,  load,  or  slave  with  the  same 
word;  the  devil  or  the  insect  locust  with  the 
same  word,  all  depending  on  the  inflection  of 
the  voice.  It  is  a  difficult  language  to  learn  to 
speak  so  as  to  be  understood,  and  Europeans 
never  fully  master  it,  no  matter  how  long  they 
may  use  it. 

OUR  WORK. 

We  have  at  present  four  main  stations  in  four 
of  the  principal  cities,  and  including  a  new 
work  just  starting,  four  out-stations  in  villages 
outside  of  these  chief  cities,  beside  out-station 
work  being  done  within  these  cities. 

Lagos,  though  not  the  largest,  is  the  chief 
mercantile  city,  and  the  port  of  the  country, 
with  a  population  of  perhaps  fifty  thousand. 
We  have  no  missionary  there,  the  work  being 
mostly  in  the  hands  of  the  natives.  M.  L. 
Stone,  native  ordained  preacher,  is  pastor  of 
our  church  there,  the  church  being  self-support¬ 
ing,  except  $2.40  a  month,  which  ceases  after 
this  year  (1899).  The  reported  membership  for 
1898  is  155.  There  is  a  day  school  supported 
by  the  Board.  At  Haussa  Farm,  a  village  on 
the  mainland  a  few  miles  from  Lagos,  we  have 
a  church  of  thirty-eight  members  as  reported 
for  1898.  We  count  this  an  out-station  of 
Lagos.  A  young  unordained  man  is  in  charge. 
Mr.  Stone  has  oversight  of  the  station.  There 


12 


has  been  another  out-station  of  Lagos,  but  little 
or  nothing  is  being  done.  It  is  Debari. 

At  Abbeokuta,a  large  city  of  perhaps  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  sixty  miles 
inland  from  Lagos,  is  our  next  main  station, 
in  charge  of  Missionary  W.  T.  Lumbley.  The 
reported  membership  of  the  church  for  1898  is 
twenty-two.  It  has  always  been  a  very  hard 
field,  but  is  a  littld  more  encouraging  now. 
There  is  also  an  out-station  in  the  city  not 
counted  among  the  four  out-stations  mentioned 
above. 

Four  days’  journey  northeast  of  Abbeokuta  is 
Awyaw,  the  capital  city  of  the  Yoruba  nation 
proper,  with  a  population  of  perhaps  seventy- 
five  thousand  people.  Our  work  here,  in  charge 
of  Missionary  S.  G.  Pinnock,  is  only  a  few 
years  old.  Twenty-five  members  are  reported 
for  1898.  There  is  an  out-station  at  a  large 
village  a  short  distance  from  the  city,  which  is 
quite  promising.  I  ought  to  have  mentioned 
that  there  is  a  native  young  ma-  who  preaches 
for  the  Abbeokuta  church  when  the  missionary 
does  not,  and  the  same  is  true  of  Awyaw,  and 
these  same  young  men  assist  the  missionaries 
in  all  the  work. 

A  hard  day’s  journey  northeast  of  Awyaw,  is 
Oghomoskaw,  the  border  city  of  the  Yoruba 
country,  having  a  population  of  perhaps  seventy- 
five  thousand  inhabitants.  Here  is  our  oldest 
church,  except  the  ore  at  Lagos.  Two  years 


ago  a  new  church  was  organized,  and  is  doing 
good  work  in  a  promising  part  of  the  city.  The 
reported  membership  of  the  two  churches  for 
1898  is  111.  There  is  a  day  school  of  from 
thirty  to  forty  children,  and  two  training 
classes,  one  adult  and  one  of  boys.  There  are 
no  native  men  employed  to  preach  for  the 
churches,  but  various  members  of  the  churches 
preach  in  the  absence  of  the  missionary,  who 
preaches  only  once  every  other  Sunday  for 

I 

each  church.  Missionary  C.  E.  Smith  is  in 
charge.  There  is  a  native  school  teacher  em¬ 
ployed  by  the  Board.  Ejigbo  is  a  large  village 
half  a  day’s  journey  from  Ogbomoshaw,  and 
here  we  have  an  out-station  in  charge  of  a  young 
native,  paid  by  the  Board.  There  are  three 
or  four  professed  converts  there  now.  Some  of 
the  training  class  are  doing  work  in  a  village  to 
the  north  of  Ogbomoshaw  also.  In  all  our 
main  stations  we  have  good  church  houses, 
and  in  Ogbomoshaw  two,  and  at  Lagos  a  good 
school-house,  and  an  indifferent  one  at  Ogbomo¬ 
shaw.  The  total  membership  of  our  churches, 
as  reported  for  1898,  was  358,  and  scholars  in 
school  140,  and  total  contributions  of  the 
churches,  $654.87.  There  are  employed  by  the 
mission  or  Board  two  ordained  men  and  six  un¬ 
ordained  men;  There  are  six  missionaries 

i 

(three  men  and  their  wives),  all  on  the  field  at 
present,  and  a  colored  man,  J.  C.  Dawes,  is  ex¬ 
pected  soon. 


14 


MANNER  OF  LIFE  AND  WORK  OF  MIS¬ 
SIONARY. 

/ 

Our  manner  of  work  is  to  instruct  the  na¬ 
tives  (workers  and  members)  and  to  try  to  get 
them  to  do  all  the  work  possible.  Also  to  train 
those  whom  we  can  get  hold  of  especially  for 
the  work.  We  preach  in  the  native  tongue, 
though  using  it  very  imperfectly,  in  the 
churches  and  in  the  streets.  We  also  do  house- 
to-house  visiting.  It  takes  a  great  deal  of  time 
ana  thought  to  lead  the  native  Christians 
aright.  We  also  hold  an  annual  meeting  for 
the  instruction  of  the  native  workers  and  to 
bring  them  into  closer  union  with  us  and  with 
each  other  in  the  work.  At  Ogbomoshaw  the 
missionary  has  to  give  about  three  hours  a 
day  to  teaching  training  classes.  All  our  mis¬ 
sionaries  have  comfortable  houses  to  live  in, 
built  by  the  Board,  and  we  do  not  and  cannot 
live  very  differently  from  what  we  would  at 
home.  So  far  as  we  can  we  live  on  what  the 
country  furnishes  is,  but  we  need  many  things 
that  the  country  does  not  furnish,  and  we  get 
these  from  England.  The  climate  as  well  as 
our  missionary  work  not  permitting  us 
to  do  all  our  own  domestic  work,  we 
!  sve  to  keep  servants,  and  each  kind 
<  c  work  has  to  have  its  own  servant.  We  also 
receive  children  into  the  mission  for  training, 
and  require  them  to  do  a  part  of  the  work.  I 
often  give  an  hour  a  day  to  training  my  mission 


15 


boys  to  use  carpenter  tools,  but  this  is  limited 
to  what  work  I  need  to  have  done.  In  teaching 
the  natives  we  do  not,  farther  than  seems  ab¬ 
solutely  necessary,  interfere  with  their  native 
customs. 

HINDRANCES  TO  OUR  WORK. 

The  liquor  traffic  is  a  great  hindrance  in  some 
places.  It  is  of  fearful  dimensions,  and  natives 
take  to  it  naturally.  Many  white  men  are  a 
hindrance,  at  least  to  good  morals,  though  I 
doubt  if  their  lives  actually  hinder  our  wTork, 
except  to  the  extent  of  those  who  are  under 
them.  I  have  noticed  that  many  of  our  best 
young  men  become  very  indifferent  to  religion 
when  employed  by  the  government.  Our  hav¬ 
ing  to  live  so  much  better  than,  and  so  very 
far  above  the  natives,  no  doubt  proves  a  hin¬ 
drance,  by  creating  the  impression  that  we  are 
immensely  rich,  and  so  ought  to  help  them.  Ill 
health,  and  consequent  necessity  of  missiona¬ 
ries  often  going  home,  and  thus  causing  a  very 
great  expense,  is  a  great  hindrance,  and  also 
by  breaking  into  the  work  by  long  absence  from 
the  field.  Polygamy,  lying,  and  immorality  are 
great  hindrances. 

ENCOURAGEMENTS. 

But  we  are  encouraged  by  what  has  been 
done,  though  so  far  short  of  what  we  hoped 
for,  by  the  fact  that  God  has  called  us  to  this 
work,  and  is  with  us,  and  will  accomplish  His 
will,  by  the  many  bright  native  Christians  wq 


16 


have,  and  by  the  fact  that  here  are  millions  of 
dying  men  and  women  who  need  the  Gospel, 
and  it  is  our  great  privilege  to  give  it  to  a  por¬ 
tion  of  them. 

OUR  NEEDS. 

We  need  all  Christians  in  America  to  give 
themselves  to  this  work,  by  prayer  (first  and 
greatest),  by  their  means,  and  by  sending  us 
some  of  their  brightest  sons  and  daughters  to 
work  and  to  die  for  Africa.  May  God  grant 
His  blessing. 

NOTES. 

There  is  another  Baptist  church  in  Lagos  hav¬ 
ing  no  connection  with  our  mission.  It  is  com¬ 
monly  called  the  Native  Baptist  church,  but 
they  call  themselves  the  Ebenezer  church,  or 
St.  Joseph-Street  Baptist  church.  I  think  they 
have  about  .150  members,  a  good  house  of 
worship,  and  have  recently  started  a  day  school, 
which  promises  well. 

A  railroad  is  being  built  from  Lagos  to  the  in¬ 
terior,  right  through  the  cities  where  we  have 
work.  It  has  now  reached  Abbeokuta,  and  con¬ 
siderable  work  is  done  this  side  of  Abbeokuta. 
The  journey  can  be  made  between  Lagos  and 
Abbeokuta  in  a  few  hours,  whereas  it  used  to 
take  from  three  to  eight  days. 

A  telegraph  line  is  in  operation  from  Lagos 
to  the  Niger  river,  running  through  all  our 
towns. 

Ogbomoshaw,  West  Africa,  1899. 


